I’m currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where the people of its capital city Sarajevo are proud of the fact that they have a church, synagogue and mosque all on the same block. It is representative of the country’s vast religious and ethnic diversity.
For a country that still feels the impact of a war in the 1990s that killed and displaced hundreds of thousands, its government must always keep this diversity in mind. Its institutions are designed to ensure that each of the three major ethnic groups are represented. In fact, the presidency rotates every eight months among a Bosniak, Serb and Croat who have each been elected to a four-year term.
A few weeks ago, I asked readers to share what a new democracy needs. Reader Jitendra described democracy, as ideally “flowering of a nation’s cultural ethos, which comprises tolerance, open dialogue and rule of reason in preference to dogma and fanaticism.”
While the nation’s institutions are designed to ensure all ethnic groups are involved in governing, its people, as Jitendra suggests, must also be tolerant and willing to engage with one another for these institutions to work.
That’s no easy task after years of conflict, but I’m eager to see how BiH is progressing. How do you teach and encourage tolerance?
Tolerance is something that comes slowly. Trying to force it upon people is generally counterproductive.
Some form of unification is usually required, sports are great in this regard.
Democracy and diversity are indeed two inseparable concepts that can’t sustain without the existence of other. Currently I am living in Kolkata ( a capital of West Bengal, India) where people of different religions and different walks of lives have came and formed a distinct identity that very few cites in India can boast of. I have seen how muslims are actively participating in in Hindu festival and the other way round and the most remarkable thing about Kolkata and West Bengal is that it has never been stirred by communal hatred. It is its unique feature that needs to be preserved and should be promoted.
regards
deb dulal dey
website design
Hullo Michelle
How do you teach and promote tolerance you ask?
Well, now we are stepping into the territory of cultural ethos which does not lend itself to instant doctoring. As a matter of fact social engineering is outside the scope of law and policing.
Religion is the best medium for cultivation of tolerance as a prized social virtue. Sadly, narrow understanding of secularism tends to militate against such an arrangement. Society loses greatly when it mocks religion as dogmatic and regressive force.
The only other course open to a democracy is to demand of its leaders both statesmanship and moral excellence in equal measure. People having the benefit of good role models can be led to the pinnacle of virtuous living, that abounds in tolerance.
Yes, sports are a powerful tool of human development, or used to be so. Now it is different. People no longer play for fun and recreation. Quest for victory at all costs has taken away the best in sports reducing it to war by other means.